Handcuffs
by Kitera
Summary: AU Botan's ever the matchmaker, and yet again she tries to set up two of her friends, Koenma and Ayame. KoAme.


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**A/N:** So a friend of mine and I were screwing around one night with crack logs, and we had to go to bed and this is a result of a last minute plot bunny from that night. Enjoy

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**Handcuffs  
**_By: Vindiya_

Ayame stumbled under the weight of Koenma being shoved into her. He was at least 8 inches taller than her. What was Botan thinking shoving him into her? Someone would get hurt.

"There you go. Do with him what you will, kay Ayame." Botan teased a grin on her face.

"Like what?" Ayame asked her features obviously saying that she was more than a little shocked.

"Use your imagination silly." Botan responded slipping a pair of handcuffs into Koenma's pocket.

Ayame gave Botan a look that obviously said that if she got her hands on Botan later she would be in a lot of trouble. It was bad enough that Botan knew about Ayame's little crush on Koenma but to openly shove Koenma into her, who by the way didn't look any more pleased by this development than she did, was just taking it a little far. Ayame glanced up at Koenma who was staring acidly at Botan's retreating back.

"Koenma don't. She's just trying to be helpful." Ayame said starting to disentangle herself from him.

"Helpful?" Koenma's disbelieving voice asked as he snorted, "If I didn't know any better I'd say she was trying to set us up."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and wrinkled his nose in disgust as he felt the handcuffs in his pocket. Then he looked at Ayame again well it couldn't be too bad could it. Botan could have shoved him into one of the drunken women singing karaoke on the stage. He shrugged well since no one was actually expecting either to stay he might as well escort Ayame home.

"Come on I'll take you home."

There were a few minutes of silence and a whole boat load of staring at them by the bartender but eventually Ayame nodded. Moving away from the bar she led them both toward the exit of the club. The street outside was quiet as Koenma moved to the curb to hail a cab for both of them. It was a good twenty minute ride back to her place anyway and then another thirty to his since the cab would have to take the long way around to get there after dropping her off.

"You don't have to come with me; you'll be in that taxi for an hour if you see me home." Ayame commented when a taxi pulled over.

"So…" He raised an eyebrow and spoke when he saw that she was going to argue with him about it, "Don't argue about it just get in. I wouldn't be doing my duty if I didn't see you home."

"Oh…I see…"

Getting into the taxi Ayame slid all the way over to the opposite door and waited for Koenma to join her. He was sitting next to her in the next minute and gave the driver her address. The taxi pulled away from the curb and silence reigned supreme ruler of the interior. Ayame rested her head against the glass of the window and watched the various buildings slide by, all the while very aware that Koenma was sitting only a few inches away from her.

"…Ayame, …is everything….alright?"

She blinked and lifted her forehead away from its position pressed against the glass. Silently she was wondering if she'd heard him right, her boss wasn't exactly well known for asking if his employees were alright. If anything he kept his distance from them all as much as possible. It had been a miracle Botan had managed to convince, more like dragged, him to come to the party at the bar. He took a lot of his behavior out of his father's book, Enma Daioh, bless him…he'd been a firm boss but he'd set a very strong foundation for Koenma to take over a few years back. Ayame having been his personal assistant for a time to be replaced by his father's when he'd stepped down.

"I'm fine, sir." She replied her voice soft with a hint of flatness that she usually reserved for when they were in the office and she was giving him a report.

A tone that had Koenma staring at her a bit surprised. They'd been working together long enough for him to know that she wasn't being entirely truthful. Yes he was hesitant to call her liar, Ayame wasn't one to lie and he'd be damned to call her one only for there to be a very good reason as to why she was holding information back. He tilted his head a little his eyes softening a bit before he spoke again. There was definitely something wrong.

"Seriously Ayame what is it?"

Ayame shook her head and made an effort to smile at him, "It's nothing Koenma."

There was a long pause during which Koenma raised his eyebrow and stared at her profile for a moment before turning his gaze back to looking out the front windshield. If she didn't want to talk about it he wasn't going to press her into it. Besides it could just be some family matter that wasn't any of his business anyway. But all the same when the car pulled to a stop in front of her grandparents home, he got out and held the door open for her to get out as well briefly leaning in to tell the driver to wait before he walked her to her door.

The silence that they had been sharing was finally broken by the sound of her digging through her purse for her key into the house. The porch light wasn't on so her grandparents must have gone to bed already leaving her to dig around in darkness. Eventually she finally made a small "aha" noise and the sound of a key sliding into a lock followed after it a few seconds later before the door swung open. Ayame paused a moment as she turned to face Koenma not that he was easy to see in the dark. But she had a thing for to thank someone to their face.

"Thank you for escorting me home. It really wasn't necessary." Ayame murmured turning to go inside.

On a whim Koenma caught her wrist keeping her from being able to disappear completely inside. He wasn't all that sure why he had acted on the whim since his control of such urges was pretty damn good but he had this time. He justified it to himself as having seen the slightly sad look in her eyes when he'd told her wouldn't be doing his duty by not escorting her home. But somehow that just didn't seem to click, there was something in the way she had been moving all night, the way she spoke, and if he hadn't known her well enough to know she never drank he would have sworn she was a bit tipsy. But she wasn't, he knew she wasn't which made the next bit just a little bit more confusing.

"Come here, Ayame." He didn't really give her a chance to answer as he pulled her back into him and his lips finding hers in a chaste kiss.

He pulled away embarrassed that he had done that. He couldn't exactly lie about that to himself. It had been easy to delude himself into thinking that he didn't have some sort of feelings for her, but kissing her certainly changed things for a different take on that idea.

Ayame on the hand was staring just a little wide-eyed at him, surprise probably the most prevalent emotion she was feeling at the moment. Okay along with quite a bit of ecstatic glee that he'd kissed her. She really should have felt a little bit ashamed about kissing her boss. She really should have but she couldn't quite seem to be capable of wrapping her brain around that idea at the moment.

"Koenma…" she breathed, "Did you mean to do that?"

He fidgeted uncomfortably for a little while before deciding that telling her the truth would probably be the best bet. After all this was Ayame she could take it. She handled everything he'd thrown at her over the years she'd worked for him. So heaving a bit of sigh he shook his head.

"…Not exactly." He admitted.

He could see the look that crossed her face, his eyes having recently fully adjusted to the darkness around them. Mentally he kicked himself for making that look to cross her face at all. Obviously that had not been the answer she'd been hoping for. Quickly Koenma pulled away from her shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Fingers brushing against the cool metal of the handcuffs Botan had slipped in the pocket about twenty minutes ago. She shouldn't have to have her hopes smashed like that and seriously didn't the fact that he just kissed her prove to him once and for all that he was indeed interested in her on a romantic level? If not he didn't know what would ever.

"But that didn't mean that I didn't want to." He sputtered quickly hoping that would help alleviate some of whatever she was feeling.

Really he couldn't begin to fathom what was going through her mind, and he honestly hoped that it wasn't anything bad either. But she hadn't slapped him like she had every right to do so maybe she wasn't thinking anything bad at all. But who was he to try to unravel the mysteries of the female brain? Safer to not bother and not make a fool out of himself than it was to try _and_ make a fool out of himself.

She was silent for a long time as she stared at him. Trying hard not to not be too obvious that she was watching him fidget. Finally she took a step forward closing the distance between them again. She thought that she might be crazy to be even entertaining the thought of kissing him to see what happens. Even going the next stop further to think she was a glutton for punishment if he didn't react favorably to her kissing him. Taking a deep breath Ayame closed the distance between them and stood up on her toes to press her lips against his much to Koenma's surprise.

There was a brief moment where nothing happened. A moment where Ayame began to panic as Koenma tried to get a grip on the fact that she'd kissed him. The fact alone was a bit surprising, you know because he'd just got through admitting that he hadn't meant to kiss her. But apparently the reassurance that it didn't mean he hadn't wanted to kiss her at all must have meant something to her. Reeling his surprise in Koenma kissed her back.

When they finally pulled apart Ayame smiled up at him. Apparently she wasn't so much a glutton for punishment as she thought she was. That was probably a pretty damn good thing.

The sound of mental clicking as it slid into place was what caught Koenma's attention the most, followed closely by the feel of metal against his wrist. He chuckled she was one sneaky little woman now wasn't she? Oh yes she was very sneaky.

"Come in and stay awhile, sir?" She asked a playful gleam in her eyes.

"I guess it can't hurt."

Cab forgotten they both went inside. Later Ayame would tell him that her grandparents had taken off on a short holiday to see her mother. A woman that she'd long since decided to stay away from after she tried to insert herself back into Ayame's life a few years ago. The note on the door from the cab driver about the fare they owed couldn't dampen their moods the next morning no matter how much it was meant too. Koenma not letting Ayame pay for even a part of the fare despite it being partially her fault that the meter had been left running as long as it had before the guy took off.


End file.
